The Choice
by chibi.gatito
Summary: AU; The Kurosaki Mercenaries were a family, always have been and always will be.  I'll change this later, I'm not in the mood to write a summary.
1. Prologue 1

Disclaimer: I own nothing  


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It was cold and she was hungry, they were both hungry. It was raining, her clothes were torn, he held her to keep her warm, it didn't mean anything, not to her anyway. It was so cold, they wouldn't survive the night if this kept up, they were going to die.

When they left the town it was already late in the afternoon. They didn't have much food, but that wasn't a new thing for the boy. He always had little to no food at all anyway, so he was used to it. The girl on he other hand, was already starving.

She knew that it was dumb of her to insist that they press on during the night, saying that it wouldn't rain and that if it did, it wouldn't be bad, they could survive it. How on earth could she have known that sudden rainstorms were normal during the night? She was usually asleep by the time it happened.

She looked at her companion, carrying her while they walked as they tried to find a place where the rain wouldn't get them. She had stumbled earlier, and her ankle was a bit swollen.

"Not big enough to be broken," the boy said confidently. "Don't worry, I'll carry you."

"No!" she had protested, she never liked the feeling of having to rely on anyone. "I can walk"

She demonstrated a few steps but she was slow, too slow. The boy sighed as he picked her up without much effort. She gave a bit of a struggle, but gave up as soon as she felt the warmth from his body, it was comfortable and as much as she didn't want to, she fell asleep.

She woke up when her companion shook her awake. He set her down when she gave him a look, and turned to see what made the red-head wake her. There was someone not far from them. He had already seen them and they knew it. They had no other choice but to walk up to him.

"Oi! Kids! Come here."

A smiling man called out to them, he had a fire going under the overhang of a tree. He seemed safe enough, but grownups should never be trusted. The two approach him warily, eyeing the sword that was beside him.

"Come on! Sit down! Sit down!"

Close up he was a middle-aged man, black hair, beginnings of a beard, nothing special. He held out some food.

"Go on, don't be shy."

She looked at him questioningly, while her companion reached out and tried the food first. He passed her some when he figured out that it was safe. The man just smiled.

"I'm Isshin, Isshin Kurosaki."

Silence, the girl stared at Isshin with big purple eyes, as if trying to determine what his intent was. The boy was scowling, usually people who introduced themselves wanted something in return, then again Isshin did feed them and get them warm. His gut told him that the stranger wasn't bad but his mind told him not to trust grownups. He decided to stick with his gut.

"My name is Renji Abarai. Thanks for the food and the warmth."

Isshin grinned. He liked kids, these two were no exception, even though the girl still didn't seem to trust him. Renji seemed to realize that the girl still didn't come closer and turned to look at her, asking a question with his eyes as his brown ones locked on to her violet ones. Her eyes shifted, as if she decided on something, she looked him in the eye and in a clear voice told him:

"I am Rukia."

It turned out that Isshin was the leader of a local mercenary group, the Kurosaki Mercenaries. He was an okay sort of person, for an adult that is. Renji enjoyed the stories he told. Rukia was amazed that someone who looked like he did could be so gentle as he bandaged her ankle.

"It should be fine to walk on by tomorrow," he told her as soon as he finished tying the cloth. "You should get some rest though. It's a long way to anywhere. So, where are you exactly going?"

"We have no place to go," Rukia informed him. Anyone with eyes filled with gentleness as Isshin's deserved to be trusted. "We're orphans."

"Yeah," Renji pipped in. "Rukia and I met just the day before yesterday, but we're in the same boat. She's really good in a fight though. Wouldn't want to get on her bad side."

"You two got in a fight?"

"No," Renji told him. "I got in a fight and Rukia came to help me. She didn't even know me."

"You were outnumbered," Rukia reminded him.

"I could've taken them," he countered, crossing his arms and nodding his head to emphasize his point.

"There were five of them," Rukia said, smirking at her friend. "And they were older than you."

"I still could've taken them!" Renji countered. "I think…"

Isshin looked at Rukia's smirking face and then at Renji's and laughed. The two might've had a tough life, but they were still young and somewhat innocent. It was at that moment that Isshin knew what he had to do.

"Well since you two don't have anywhere to go," Isshin smiled. "Come join my group! We're just a small band, but we're like family. I'm sure we could find something for you to do there so you won't be freeloaders."

"We can?" Rukia asked, skeptical that someone would just offer a place for them. "Go with you I mean."

"Of course you can!" Isshin replied, his smile getting wider. "My Masaki would just love another son and daughter! And my Ichigo needs more playmates than just Chad, cause Uryuu never does anything but read." When they just blinked at him, he rushed to explain. "Masaki's my beautiful amazing goddess of a wife and Ichigo's my son. He's just about your age Rukia. So, you wanna come along? Being a mercenaries no walk in the park, but I bet it'll be easy for the two of you, and I'll teach you how."

The two children looked at each other and within seconds they grinned. As they turned to face Isshin, he already knew what their answer was.

"We'll go."

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There you go, prologue one. This is going to be Ichiruki sometime in the future I promise!

Coming up: Ichigo's first meeting with Rukia and he thinks...she's a guy? Oh well, stay tuned,

Sorry for all grammar and spelling errors I may have commited. Reviews are loved, considered, and appreciated. THANKS!


	2. Prologue 2

Disclaimer: I own nothing  


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The Kurosaki Mercenaries headquarters was like a small town, it wasn't large, but it wasn't small, it seemed to take up just the right amount of space. There was a wall along the perimeter of the place with a big gate in front, and there wasn't a tree allowed to grow for a mile in a radius around the headquarters, precautions so that they wouldn't be caught by surprise by anyone. Sheds were built along the wall forming a square courtyard for the people to train in. At the far wall stood a big stone keep with two towers.

As Isshin and his two young companions walked inside the open gates, people around them stopped and smiled at their boss and a chorus of greetings assaulted their ears. A series of "Welcome back Boss!" and "Glad you're back, Boss!" and variations of such made the two children smile. It was apparent that the mercenaries admired their boss. Isshin smiled at them in response but he didn't stop to chat. Sure he was the boss, but he had to go report in to someone first, his wife, and everyone knew that.

They headed straight to the keep with nobody bothering to delay them. If the mercenaries were curious as to who the two trailing after Isshin were, they didn't show it, their boss was a good judge of character and since he brought them home with him, that meant that they were okay.

The inside of the keep was warm and well lighted and it had a homey feel to it. There was a big fireplace in the middle of the far wall of the room and a staircase off to it's right. The room had a few long tables with stools piled on them, except for the table on the elevated platform. That table had some platters of food and plates and cups on it. There were a few doors along the walls, leading to other areas of the keep.

The news of Isshin arriving had reached the keep before they did and as they entered, the people were just putting on the last tray of food on the table. A beautiful woman with brown hair set the last platter down, wiped her hands on her apron, and turned to greet the new arrivals with a smile.

"Welcome home, Isshin," she said sweetly as she approached the group. "I trust everything went well?"

"Better," Isshin grinned. "It was nothing I couldn't handle of course! My dear sweet Masa-"

"Good," she said as she cut him off and turned her attention to Renji and Rukia. "And who are these two?"

"Well," Isshin said as he scratched his head. "I kinda found them along the way yesterday."

"And they needed help?" she smiled knowingly.

"Yes," he replied. "They had no where else to go!"

She nodded and smiled at the two. "Stay as long as you two wish; and as long as you both have no where else to go, you are always welcome here." She approached them and put a hand on each of their heads. "I am Masaki, Isshin's wife, and you two are?"

"My name's Renji," Renji told her as he smiled up at her. "I wanna be as strong as the Boss there."

At that moment, Isshin new that his wife would handle everything that had to be done to get the children settled in, so he quietly started to excuse himself from the hall. Rukia noticed and raised an eyebrow, but Isshin just smiled and waved at her and left the room.

"Just a day with my husband and you want to be like him?" Masaki asked Renji, brining Rukia's attention back to their conversation. "Where are my manners? Go on, sit down." She nodded at the chairs near the table with food. "I had a snack prepared so that you could eat while we talked."

"Thank you," Rukia said as she sat down and nibbled on a slice of bread.

"Yeah thanks!" Renji chimed.

"So," Masaki said after she poured some milk for them to drink. "You really wish to be like my husband?"

"Not be like him," Renji protested. "As strong as him."

"I'm sure you can do it," she said encouragingly. "So I'm assuming you want to join up since you already called him 'boss', am I correct?"

"Yup!" he replied enthusiastically. "I'm going to be the best mercenary there is!"

"Hah!"

A voice said from the stairs. Rukia and Renji turned to look at who spoke and saw a boy around Rukia's age, with the brightest orange hair that either of them had ever seen standing at the bottom of the stairs. He was scowling at the two of them until he saw Masaki at the table and his face suddenly lit up.

"Mother!" the boy said as he walked up to her. "Good afternoon."

"Ichigo?" Masaki said still smiling. "Where are your manners? These two are new recruits."

"I could tell from his attitude," he replied, tilting his head at Renji. "It's not easy to be a mercenary, and he thinks he's going to be the best? Hah. I sure hope _he_ doesn't think the same."

Renji's eyes narrowed a bit after hearing Ichigo's insult, but they widened when he heard the other boy refer to Rukia as a 'he'. Rukia tilted her head to the side and stared at the offensive boy, did he really think that she was male, or was he just stupid? Masaki's smile didn't waver as she put a hand on her son's shoulder.

"Ichigo? Your manners?" she reminded him.

"What? Oh yeah," Ichigo said sheepishly, mimicking his father as he scratched his head. "My name's Ichigo Kurosaki, nice to meet you both."

"I'm Renji Abarai," the red-head supplied. "And I'm used to a hard life, so I'm going to do my best a become the best mercenary ever! Or if I can't do that, then I'll just settle on being better than you."

Ichigo smirked but didn't reply. Instead, he just looked a Rukia, waiting for her to introduce herself. Rukia saw him stare at her and got the message, she left out a small sigh first before saying anything.

"I'm Rukia," she said in a small voice. "It's nice to meet you."

"Rukia?" Ichigo said, blinking his eyes in confusion. "Isn't that a girl's name?"

"Ichigo," Masaki said calmly. "Rukia-chan here, _is_ a girl.

"Wha-?"

After the introduction fiasco with Ichigo, Masaki sent him off to play with a friend of his and showed Rukia and Renji around the headquarters. They were also introduced to all the people they passed, and by the end of the day, the children's minds were swimming with new faces and names that they couldn't match with each other.

After a loud dinner with all the present members of the Kurosaki Mercenaries, Rukia was told to share a room with Ichigo's sisters, Karin and Yuzu, while Renji was going to share with a boy around their age named Chad.

They were told to sleep early so they could be ready for morning drills which would be facilitated by some man named Kisuke. Ichigo narrowed his eyes when he heard who would be heading the drills but he said nothing. With that they were told to go to bed.

When Rukia reached her room, she found that the two girls were already asleep on two beds pushed together against one side of the room to form one big bed, while another bed was on the other side of the room. Masaki had told her earlier that the two were twins and they were only four. She slipped out of her clothes and folded them and put on the nightgown that was on her bed and went to sleep.

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I wasn't really content with this, but I couldn't think of what else to write so, I'm sorry if this turned out sucky. Anyway, please review. :)

Coming up: Morning training with Urahara, what could it be?


	3. Prologue 3

Disclaimer: I own nothing

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The next morning came quickly enough, and while Renji had to have water splashed on him by his roommate Chad, under Ichigo's instructions of course, Rukia was already up and ready before dawn. One of the Kurosaki twins sat up soon after the morning bell rang, the other turned over and went right back to sleep. The one who woke up rubbed the sleep from her eyes and stared at Rukia who was standing by the window.

"Are you the one Mama said would be sharing our room?"

Rukia turned to face the younger child and gave her a slight smile before she nodded.

"My name's Yuzu," the girl said as she tried to put her hair into some semblance of order. "This is Karin," she said as she pointed to her twin. Rukia noticed that the other girl had darker hair than Yuzu. "It's nice to meet you."

When Yuzu stared at her for a while, Rukia realized that she hadn't introduced herself yet. "I'm Rukia," she said as she gave Yuzu another uneasy smile. "It's nice to meet you too."

"Mmhm," Yuzu said as she got out of bed. "Shouldn't you be at breakfast? Nii-san said that Mister Urahara was the one who would handle today's drill. You should eat something before the drill, knowing Mister Urahara, it would take a while."

"Uh, sure," Rukia nodded as she began to leave the room. "I'll see you later then."

With that she left the room. As she made her way towards the great hall for breakfast, she noticed Renji, dripping wet, stomping through the hallway, obviously angry at someone.

"What happened?" she asked, concerned since he had previously warned her about the his dislike for forced awakenings.

"My roommate," Renji spat out as he pushed his wet hair away from his eyes. "That brat Kurosaki told Chad to wake me up with water so we won't be late for morning training."

"He did?"

"Yeah," Renji said angrily, stomping off towards the great hall. "In any case, we should get some breakfast."

"Calm down," Rukia said as she rushed towards him and placed a concerned hand on his shoulder. "You should change in to something dry first. I have a big shirt in my room that might fit you."

Rukia tugged him along to her room and ignored all his complaints. She slipped inside quietly and quickly returned with a shirt in her hand. She handed him the shirt and waited for him to realize that he was supposed to put it on.

"You can't really expect me to borrow this?" Renji asked. Clothes were valuable when you were a street child, he didn't want to use hers for training since he didn't know if something bad might happen to it.

"Just use it," she replied impatiently. "Hurry up or else we'll be late."

Renji just nodded his head and did as she told him to. Smiling and giving a little nod, Rukia started to walk to the great hall again, stopping a few steps later to stare at Renji who had not moved an inch.

He realized that she was waiting for him and quickly walked towards her. When she saw that he was moving, she continued to make her way towards the hall. Renji kept staring at her as they walked, all the while thinking that something about Rukia didn't make sense.

As they were about to leave the hall after they ate, a blond man with a weird sense of fashion blocked their way. Rukia wondered where the man found his green-stripped hat and matching coat, since they were clothes like she'd never seen before.

"Good morning, Miss Rukia, Mister Abarai," he said, grinning at them. "I'm Kiisuke Urahara. I'm supposed to determine how you two will fit in with the group."

"Group?" Renji asked, "You mean how we'll fit into the company?"

"In time," Urahara replied, "I meant how you'll fit in with the other kids your age."

Before either of them could ask who else was around their age, Ichigo came up to them with two other boys trailing behind him. One of them was dark skinned and tall, with his muscles, it was hard to believe that he was just their age. One glance at the scowl on Renji's face told Rukia that the tall boy must be his roommate. The other boy was pale and lanky and looked like he didn't want to be there at all.

"Ah, your contemporaries," Urahara said, his grin getting wider. "I'm sure you both already know Mister Kurosaki. Mister Sado, Mister Ishida, won't you both please introduce yourselves to Miss Rukia and Mister Abarai here?"

Rukia stared at the others and waited for them to say something, but it soon became apparent to her that none of them were willing to make the first move. Urahara was just grinning, Renji was still scowling at Chad who looked a bit queasy, Ishida, or at least the one she supposed was Ishida since the one Renji was scowling at _had_ to be Chad, was glaring at Ichigo who either didn't notice or pretended not to notice as he raised an eyebrow at her. Rukia sighed and shook her head, it was going to be a long day.

"My name is Rukia," she said not even bothering to try to smile. "This is my friend Renji and we're pleased to meet you."

"I'm Uryuu Ishida," the lanky boy said, dropping his glare as he studied her. "The silent one is Yasutora Sado, but most people call him Chad. I'm sure you two already know the idiot that is Ichigo?"

"Hey!" Ichigo said glaring at Uryuu who didn't mind glaring back. "You little-"

"Well!" Urahara said quickly before Ichigo could continue, "Now that you all know each other, let's begin training, shall we?"

Ichigo and Uryuu dropped their glares and paled. Even Chad seemed to lighten as Urahara made his way to the doors. Rukia and Renji wondered what it was about training that made the three look like they would pass out at any moment.

_I'll find out soon enough._ Rukia thought as she shook her head and followed after Urahara with the others trailing slowly behind her.

Urahara lead them to a smaller courtyard in the back, away from the older mercenaries who were practicing drills in the front. The weird man moved towards a cart and called the newcomers forward.

His plan for them turned out to be some sort of diagnostic test. Urahara made them try out every different weapon he could find, with Ichigo and the other boys demonstrating how to use them and sparred against each other as the two newcomers practiced using the weapons.

Rukia was better than Renji at using the bow or any other ranged weapon, since he couldn't even hit the target. On the other hand, he was better than her at melee weapons, even though she was obviously more graceful than he was when they were handling the bladed weapons.

When they were practicing with clubs she tried to practice with a club which was way too heavy for her, she managed to lift the weapon for a moment before it started to fall towards her face. Renji noticed and quickly pulled the club towards himself. Startled, Rukia released the club and it crashed right below his eye.

"OW!" he yelled rubbing the spot while looking at Rukia to make sure she was alright. "That thing was heavy! What were you thinking, trying to lift it?"

"Huh?" Rukia asked, not really hearing his question as she reached over and pulled his hand off to stare at the red spot. "That's going to turn purple soon."

"What happened?" Urahara said as he reached them. "How did you manage to hurt yourself Mister Abarai?"

"I-" Renji started to explain.

"It was my fault," Rukia cut in. "The club that I was trying to lift was heavy but I still tried to lift it. It was going to fall on my head but Renji stopped it in time."

"Hmmm…" Urahara stared at her then at Renji, then back to her. "Then I guess we won't give you a mace until you're much stronger then."

Rukia stared at the man, confused about what he had just said. Renji laughed a bit beside her and looked at her. He realized that she still hadn't let go of his hand and blushed as he quickly pulled his hand from hers. Urahara grinned when he saw Rukia looking more confused while Renji tried to cover up his blush.

"I think that's enough of weapons for today," he said as he motioned for the other children to stop sparring and come over. "There's still time before lunch, and I'd like you all to try something."

Seeing his grin widen, Rukia felt a chill run through her spine. She looked at her companions and saw that they looked worried. Ichigo furrowed his brow and swallowed before he stepped forward.

"Mister Urahara?" Ichigo said, gaining the man's attention and continued when he was given a nod. "Maybe we should take a break for now. Renji's eye seems to be swelling."

"Yes, yes," Urahara said after a quick glance at the red-head. "It would seem so. Mister Ishida, if you would be so kind as to escort Mister Abarai to your father?"

Uryuu gave a small nod. "Follow me," he told Renji as he walked off, not even waiting to see if Renji followed him or not.

"I trust you two can teach Miss Rukia where everything goes?" Urahara asked after the two had left. When Chad and Ichigo nodded in reply, he continued. "Good! I'll se you all after lunch then."

With that he left the children there whistling as he went. Rukia stared at the two and they stared back, well Ichigo did, Chad started picking up the clubs. Ichigo snorted and Rukia narrowed her eyes.

"You can pick up the arrows on the ground and take the ones that hit off the targets," Ichigo said after a few moments, scowling at her as he did. "Put them back in the quivers and then start gathering everything else you can and put them in that cart. When we've got everything, Chad and I will show you where the armory is."

Without waiting for her to reply, Ichigo turned and started collecting the practice blades off the ground and depositing them in the cart. Sighing, Rukia went off and did as she was told.

After they deposited the cart in the armory, Ichigo and Chad made their way back to the keep with Rukia following at a slower pace. They were about to enter when Ichigo noticed that Rukia was dragging her feet and sighed impatiently.

_She's taking too long_, Ichigo thought as his eyes narrowed. _No, I won't make her hurry. I __will__ be patient_. And he was, for ten whole seconds. After which he stomped towards her, grabbed her arm, and partially dragged her back towards the keep's entrance.

"Let, go!" Rukia said as she struggled to wrench her arm free while she kept his pace.

Ichigo ignored her and kept dragging her. when they reached the door where Chad was waiting, he let her go. As he turned to face her, her hand was flying to his cheek. He stared at her for a good while, wondering why his cheek was stinging before he realized that she had slapped him.

"What the-?" he started to ask.

"I told you to let go," Rukia said angrily. "I don't like being dragged against my will. You deserve it."

Ichigo let her words sink in and scowled. She wasn't acting like a girl at all. In fact, she acted more like one of the guys. And he couldn't argue with her since she had a point. So Ichigo just deepened his scowl, wondering what his punishment would be if he got in to a fight with Rukia.

They stood there, Rukia glaring, Ichigo scowling, and Chad looking like he'd love to be anywhere else when Renji and Uryuu arrived, puzzled at what they saw.

"Did Mister Urahara ask you to wait?" Uryuu asked, startling Rukia and Ichigo since they didn't notice the others arrive.

"No," Rukia told them. "We were just…" she trailed off, not knowing how and what to explain.

"I see," Uryuu replied, a casting the girl a knowing glance. "Then may I suggest that we go inside to eat lunch?"

He didn't wait for a reply as he walked by them and entered. Chad followed soon after, dragging Ichigo along with him before the orange-haired boy could start another fight. Rukia and Renji stood there staring for a moment before they went inside as well.

"What happened?" Masaki asked as soon as she saw Renji enter the great hall. She hurriedly made her way towards the red-head and crouched down to inspect his bruise, concern shining in her eyes. "Did you get in to a fight with someone?"

"No," Renji said shyly as he stared at the floor. As far as he could remember, no one ever showed him any concern before. "Rukia couldn't carry the club and I got hit when it fell."

"Oh dear," Masaki replied, looking over to Rukia who was shuffling her feet, obviously guilty at what happened. "Are you both alright?"

Rukia's head shot up, apparently stunned at what Masaki had asked. She bit her lit and inhaled, gaining her composure before she replied. "It was going to fall on my head, but Renji got in the way. I'm fine, but he isn't."

"Got in the way?" the older woman asked, giggling a bit at Rukia's choice of words. "Well, that was very brave of you Renji."

"It was nothing," Renji said as he blushed.

"If you say so," Masaki said as she stood up. "Go and eat lunch you two. Urahara told me what he's going to teach you after lunch. You'll need all the energy you can get."

With that she lead them to two empty seats across the three boys who got there first and left them there. Renji ate happily like there was no tomorrow while Rukia smiled at her friend's actions and ate like a normal person. If Ichigo was still mad at her for slapping it earlier, he didn't show it, as he tried to be nicer to her.

* * *

I'm really really sorry that it took me so long to update! I was kinda walking through this really long street known as Writer's Block and, well, it took me this long to get out. XD

Okay, that was lame... Anyway, please review. :)

Coming up: If that's all there was to the morning session, what could Urahara possibly have in store for them in the afternoon?


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